May 2013

May 01, 2013

In April, LinkedIn announced that you can now mention connections and companies in your updates using the "@" prefix.

This is a feature that was introduced by Twitter as a way to reply to or mention another user on the social network. In 2009, Facebook introduced a similar tagging feature using the "@" sign.

Here's how it works: Type the "@" sign before you begin typing the name of the person or company you want to mention. A drop-down will appear highlighting those in your connections which meet the criteria of the name you are entering. As you continue typing, the drop-down menu will update to provide you a better list of relevant connections. You can continue typing out the whole name or leverage the drop-down menu shortcut by clicking on the relevant connection.

Once the name is selected, it will have a gray background to indicate that it is a mention.

When you "Share" your update, the mention will become a link with a dotted underline, it will link to the company's page, and the link will enable a tool-tip pop-up to appear with summary information about the company.

Pretty neat, huh? A word of warning, though. Make sure you select a connection from the drop-down menu when using the @ prefix. If you don't select from that menu, the post may interpret the @Name as a Twitter username (and will link you to Twitter. So, if I hadn't selected "World Resources Institute" from the drop down, the update would have interpreted the mention as "@World Resources Institute" and the link would have taken me to user "world" on Twitter.

According to LinkedIn, this feature enables you to connect with a broader range of LinkedIn users -

In addition to first-degree connections, you can also mention other LinkedIn members engaged in conversations in the comment sections of posts on the LinkedIn Homepage. Mentions will make it easier for you to start conversations with your network while also enabling you to respond in real-time when someone begins a conversation with you.